In 100 words: The greatest of all noirs has a sly sense of humor: Mitchum delivers one-liners with such casual indifference adding weight and levity to his words. Torneaur makes elegant images, filling rooms with so much cigarette smoke that may suggest characters expressing themselves through every puff. The plot keeps turning, making it difficult to keep track of who’s double-crossing who. But despite that, a sense of loss emanates from Mitchum’s Jeff that’s quite unusual for this genre. Greer too feels more cunning than the average femme fatale, but I love how her desperation reads across her face, even when performing coolly.

Other Movies for Context: Tourneur makes handsome images as apparent in one picture I’ve seen of his called Cat People (1942), which is quite literal despite its eerie affectations. As far as noirs go, I love The Big Heat (1953) and In a Lonely Place (1950), which just suggests how much I adore Gloria Grahame.

In 100 words: There’s something so perverse about Robert Mitchum’s serial killer Reverend Harry Powell that nags at me—his preaching is so out of step with his murdering instincts, yet oddly fits with his religious nonsense. Laughton’s singular horror classic strikes a similar chord: its expressionistic use of space and design recalls Weimar cinema, while his ideal American small-town community looks and feels artificial. All of these though work to create a claustrophobic atmosphere—Laughton heightens Mitchum’s treacherous presence and the noirish lighting and play with shadows as an ever-encroaching danger to the kids and the community. Brilliant, absolutely terrifying, and unforgettable.

Other Movies for Context: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973) plays with the same light and dark themes that this movie did, with its interesting angles and lighting. Another similarly odd movie is Touch of Evil (1958) by Orson Welles, which has the same ambiguous ideas about right and wrong, and even a similar style as well. The Night of the Hunter, however, recalls The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) by Robert Weine and Nosferatu (1922) by F.W. Murnau–both sensational films that derived its terror from the expressionistic use of design that Hunter takes its cues from.